910377.En Pe 495.090

Question for written answer E-007485/2012 to the Commission Rule 117 Andrea Zanoni (ALDE) Subject: Alarming use of steel plant waste products (presumably toxic) as road-building material for the Valdastico Sud motorway link road, between the provinces of Vicenza and Rovigo In September 2012 the first stretch of the Valdastico Sud motorway link road – 54.3 km, costing EUR 1.18 billion – linking the A31 in the province of Vicenza to the Transpolesana road in the province of Rovigo is expected to open. In 2011 the Valdastico Sud Committee for the Defence of the Environment and Health, from the provinces of Vicenza and Padua, reported that potentially toxic waste materials from steel plants were being used to build the surface of the Valdastico Sud road. They sent two official complaints, one to the public prosecutor's office of Vicenza and the other to that of Venice1. In parallel, the Democratic Medicine association and the IAEA (Italian association of people exposed to asbestos) sent another complaint, which resulted in investigations by the Carabinieri police and the Anti-Mafia Prosecutor of Venice, which are still under way. To the complaint2, amateur archaeologist Marco Nosarini attached several photos of yellow puddles and steel scraps3 that were scattered around the fields between Torri di Quartesolo (VI) and Noventa Vicentina (VI), near the motorway works site, which allegedly prove that highly polluting material was being used. Residents in the area have also witnessed nocturnal comings and goings of lorries that apparently unloaded tons of these materials. Laboratory tests have been carried out on material collected on the site4, which apparently confirm the presence of various types of heavy metals and chemicals5 in concentrations well above the legal limits. So far there have apparently been no clean-up operations. Moreover, there have been several suspicious cases of dogs who have died shortly after drinking from puddles of water along the road. This indicates that the water may have been contaminated with toxic materials, with a consequent risk to the aquifer should the pollutants filter underground. Former magistrate Felice Casson (a member of the Italian Parliament's Environment Committee) has also expressed his view on the Valdastico Sud case, stating that in Italy, legal proceedings for environmental crimes are never concluded because tests take so long to conduct and, after only four years, the offences are statute barred6. Is the Commission aware of this? Does the Commission not think it might be useful to pursue the matter, also in view of the possible breaches of Directives 2000/60/EC on water and 2008/90/EC on waste? Is the Commission aware of any other Italian cases of illegal waste disposal by means of major works? 1 See article by Giulio Todescan in 'La Nuova Vicenza', 23.12.2011. 2 See article in L'Espresso magazine: http://espresso.repubblica.it/dettaglio/quellautostrada-e-una- discarica/2170938. 3 Photos published on the following website: http://www.vicenzapiu.com/foto/guarda/bozza-nuova-galleria-240. 4 Tests commissioned by the Committee on a sample of waste collected in the Lovolo di Albettone (VI) area. 5 Including cyanides, arsenic, lead, nickel, cobalt, cadmium, chromium, mercury and asbestos. 6 See article in 'Corriere del Veneto', 5.1.2012. 910377.EN PE 495.090.

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